My First Game. Thought Process.

Here is my thought process for adding each weapon:

+Pistol - Nothing much to discuss. This is your starting weapon, low fire-rate, intentionally weak. The reason I added this was to help "pacing" as the early game is slower, and to help players feel a sense of "progression" once they replace it with their first real weapon.

+Rifle - The standard gun for any shooting game. Entire map range, high fire rate, and perfect accuracy. Perfect for newer players who prefer a useful weapon that can get the job done without being too complicated. Admittedly, the weakest amongst all the weapons even after the buff, as it can struggle with bosses with high HP or too many zombies. But that is just how it is for its consistency. Hopefully adding the new "Explosive Zombie" can balance things out, especially for the late game.

+SMG - My personal favorite. A very high fire-rate, mid-range, and very inaccurate. A cousin to the rifle. This by itself is already enough to make the SMG stand out, but I wanted to add another mechanic to it. Now, when you move and shoot, you will be slightly knocked back in the opposite direction. Sure this will slow you down when running forward and shooting, but it can also boost you when shooting in your opposite direction. It adds another layer of personality and skill to this weapon as now you can pull of sick maneuvers you could not do with any other weapon. If you want a tip, you can boost yourself in direction of incoming zombies or away from dangerous situations. This can mitigate its shorter range.

+Shotgun - Another classic weapon. Mid-range, decent fire-rate, fire's 5 bullets in slightly randomized directions and speeds. Before I felt this weapon was too weak, but after the buff I feel like it is well balanced. Can insta-kill normal zombies, and great for killing bosses even in the late game. If all 5 bullets hit, it can cause great knockback to bosses. It differentiates itself from the arguably similar weapon, the Katana, by having range. Sure, both weapons are powerful up close, the Katana dealing massive damage faster and consistently with the downside of being very close to enemies, while the Shotgun being slightly less consistent and having slower fire-rate with the advantage of mid-range. Just the fact that there is range and that it fires bullets, changes the way we play these two very similar weapons.

+Sniper - It does massive damage, has the slowest fire-rate (0.8), highest bullet speed, but the bullets have a Piercing effect (hit 5 enemies with each bullet). These stats incentivizes players to treat this weapon as an actual sniper. Because of the slower firing speed, each shot counts, and if players get good enough they might realize they can line zombies up to hit multiple at once using the piercing effect. Narrowly dodging zombies to make them form a line, and then shooting that line decimating every zombie with one shot, is Highly Satisfying. I found this weapon to be very interesting, as despite being a top-down arcade style shooter, this sniper manages to feel like a sniper from other FPS games.

+Katana - The most unique weapon by far. Completely melee, high fire-rate, massive damage, and area of effect. Other than the coolness factor of using a Katana to slice down zombies. This has a very active and fun playstyle. Because of the lack of range, you have to intentionally get close to these zombies to damage them, not to mention the newly added explosive zombies which are on a timer, this will add an interesting challenge for this weapon. I will admit, this weapon may be too powerful, but it is balanced with the amount of effort you have to put in and the high skill ceiling. As I stated, the new explosive zombies will be a counter for this weapon, as they run faster than any zombie, need 3 hits to kill, and have a chance of exploding which would damage the player from a range because they need to get close to kill them in the first place. Truly a game design of all time!

*Who knew that even slight changes to a weapons stats could completely alter their play style. Each weapon has the end goal of killing, but they differ on how they get to that goal.*

Explosive Zombie:

I added a new Explosive Zombie. It has 15 HP (But updated to 11 HP on release of the game), runs faster than normal zombies. They have a 10 second timer, if not killed, they will explode. If they are killed, they will drop a Bomb with a 5 second timer, when timer runs out, it will explode. Explosions would deal 15 damage to any zombie, to balance this out and add danger to the player, Explosions would deal 2 damage to the player. Another thing to note. Players have the choice to pick up the Bomb, and throw it in a direction, it would explode on impact. Still dealing the set damage to each entity.

The reason for adding this Zombie. What makes a game fun, especially this genre of game, are the Decisions we make. Particularly the many "Micro-Decisions" you have to make from moment to moment. Before the conceptualization of the addition of this zombie, here is how the typical gameplay loop may play out. "The player has the choice to focus on the boss zombie OR to kill the normal zombies before focusing on the boss. They have to make these constant decisions while trying to kill, dodge and survive the onslaught of zombies. With the bosses' HP incrementally increasing with the late game." While this gameplay loop is acceptable and fun to play during my testing, I feel like its missing more possible decisions. I need to add another "Objective" for the player. When I say objective, that may be getting the highest score and surviving, but it may also be what zombies to prioritize killing. To BLANK to this, I thought of the Explosive Zombie. This zombie would have as timer, which already adds a layer of decision making to the player, they a forced to make a choice. This zombie is also very dangerous, with its speed and potential to deal 2 damage to the player. However, its not all bad, this zombie could aid the player if used properly, as the explosion will deal a massive 15 damage to all zombies. The player can also throw the Bomb for more control and as an added "Objective." It also helps balance the game, as some weapons do not do enough damage in the late game (Rifle, SMG), but this addition will make it easier to use these weapons if used properly.

With this new Zombie added, here is how the new gameplay loop may turn out "It's the late game. There is a boss zombie, explosive zombie, and many normal zombies. The player now has to make a choice. 1) They could focus on the boss zombie, and ignore the explosive zombie. 2) They can kill the explosive zombie first, ignore the bomb as it is too risky with all the normal zombies, then deal with the boss. 2.5) Try to reach the bomb before the time limit is up, then use it to aid in killing the boss zombie." There are only a few of the many possibilities and decisions now unlocked, just by adding this Explosive Zombie, and this new Bomb Mechanic.

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After Publishing The Game

What have we learned?

I've learned so much! One of the most important lessons was to Compromise. At first when I viewed what *Thomas Brush* once said in his videos. I thought, "Why would you compromise your games? If you really wanted too, wouldn't you do anything necessary to publish the game in the state you want to, even if that means delaying.”

But you see, if I still had that mindset today, I would have never published this game, because I wouldn't have enough time for it, or I would be doing something that would give me diminishing returns. 

A few examples of things I compromised to get this game out:

+Better Art

+Feedback about displaying where the next zombie will appear

+Better Explosion Particles 

+Player Leaves Footprints

+Leaves falling down

+YouTube trailer video

Among a few other things. But the feedback I got was still very useful. They helped me balance the game, tell me what quality of life updated to add. And even if I couldn't add all of them, or they just don't fit the vision I had for the game, the feedback I did receive and added to the game made it much better. On a side note, collecting data for your game is fun! Especially if they come from friends and people you know. But for bigger projects, find more different people to playtest your game.

Therefor, you compromise not because of need, or laziness, or greed, but because of love for your game, because this is what is best, and you want others to play your game eventually...

Thank You, Dear Reader, for making it till the end. I plan on making many more games, content and media in the future. So, leave a follow and a subscribe if you want to come along this journey!